Board of Hi Five

I spend a lot of time listening to music that I will never have a chance to hear in person. Artists and bands that have either broken up or have died before I was born, or before I was well aware of their genius. We, as human beings, have so much to cherish in the music that the people before us have left. From simple work songs passed through generations to elaborate symphonies conjured up in a virtuostic composer’s brain, there are many places I would love to be in musical history. I would love to pick Mozart’s ear, or know what Debussy was thinking while composing his String Quartet. However, I narrowed my choosing down to musicians I can obtain recordings of, and have influenced me countless times by their talents.

1. Sam Cooke

The best male voice in all of popular music. Some may argue Ray Charles, Elvis, or perhaps John Lennon, all which are valid, but this website is about opinions, and my vote is for Sam.

I would give anything to see him perform. However, I’ll have to settle for listening to Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 over and over and over and over….and that really is not a bad option. It is an amazing album.

2. Miles Davis

Now, there is a stipulation with Miles. I would only want to see him in the era from 1954-1963. His music from that era of his career speaks to me more than any of his later electronic expeditions. I would love to see Miles in a smokey club in New York, or perhaps Paris in the late 50’s, backed by Coltrane, Red Garland, Philly Joe Jones, and Paul Chambers. It would give me yet another reason to want to name my first born son Miles.

3. Johnny Cash

Granted, I could have seen Johnny in concert in my lifetime. However, I will admit I was too ignorant as a younger man to truly appreciate his music. No matter how much my dad pushed him on me in car rides to football practice, I was still in my phase of not listening to anything ‘country’.

I did not gain an appreciation for Mr. Cash until I reached college and became incredibly bored with what I was listening to over and over in my freshman dorm room. So, in an effort to broaden my mind, I went to the Fredonia library and picked a random record off the shelf to listen to while studying. That record was Live in Folsum Prison. I was hooked.

Unfortunately, I was too busy with college and the music I was making to catch Johnny live on his last tour. On September 12, 2003, one day before my 22nd birthday, Johnny Cash died. I went to BJ’s where they were only playing Johnny all night long, and did two shots of whiskey at midnight. One thanking Johnny for the music, the other for my birthday.

4. Roy Orbison

I was a Roy Orbison fan at a very young age. His voice intrigued me as a child. It has this haunting quality that I had never heard then, and have not heard since. Usually popular singers encounter copycat singers (think of all the Eddie Vedder copycats there have been), but I have never in my life heard someone sing like Roy. The closest I have seen to him playing live is on the Black and White Night DVD, which in its own right is glorious.

Roy Orbison may have been the first death of a famous person that meant something to me. It was 1988, I was 7, and Traveling Wilburys Vol. I had come out two months before his death in December. I remember listening to that album and singing along with his parts in Handle with Care while my dad played the album in the dining room. I also remember that the video for Handle with Care had Roy in it, but the next single End of the Line was filmed after his death and only had a guitar in a rocking chair during his vocal solo.

Another important note is that Johnny Cash and Roy were great friends, and lived next to each other in Tennessee. Below is a video of them on Johnny Cash’s TV show performing Orbison’s Pretty Woman

5. The Beach Boys

I did see the Beach Boys once. It was the first concert I ever attended. It was sometime around the release of Kokomo (1989) and Brian Wilson was no where to be found. My parents, brothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins were all in attendance because it was at the Clearfield County Fair that year. I have just learned that, 21 years later, I am going to have another chance to see them at the same venue. They are playing at the Clearfield County Fair in August, with three of the original members who still survive (Brian Wilson, Mike Love, and Al Jardine….Dennis and Carl Wilson passed away in 1983 and 1998 respectively.)

However, I would give anything to see them around the time of Pet Sounds. If I could hear those vocal harmonies along with the intricate instrumentation, I would probably melt.

Honorable Mentions

The Beatles – Not in my top 5 (which will probably anger lots of people), but if I were to see them, I would want to see them in Hamburg as young kids giving it their all on stage.

Ray Charles – I would have been the dorky white guy in the corner listening intently.

Buddy Holly – Nothing would have stopped me from dancing at his show.